


Encounter at Farpoint

by elfiepike



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, community: je_otherworlds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-12
Updated: 2012-06-12
Packaged: 2017-11-08 13:44:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/443809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiepike/pseuds/elfiepike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The outpost was a relic from a time when humanity had thought it would always be expanding further and further into the universe--a time before one too many ships got lost in the dark and made colonizing the farthest reaches of space a lower priority.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heavenlyjuliet](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=heavenlyjuliet).



> originally posted [here](http://je-otherworlds.livejournal.com/28534.html) at otherworlds! thanks to phrenk and ltgmars for beta-reading, and various others for pre-reading and handholding.
> 
> additional header information: i consider this to be pre-slash nino/sho. :)

The outpost was a relic from a time when humanity had thought it would always be expanding further and further into the universe--a time before one too many ships got lost in the dark and made colonizing the farthest reaches of space a lower priority--and, from the outside, it certainly looked the part of a way station in disuse, all its lights out, nobody home.

The state of the Jeffries tubes told a different story: the crawlspace was almost roomy, with more than enough height for Nino to crouch comfortably in front of the open panel (though admittedly he tended to hunch), and it was illuminated by a constant, if dim, glow from lighting strips that ran the length of what was effectively the ceiling. Plus, well.

"They have _Yar mark 9 crystals_ ," Nino breathed, almost lightheaded from the technology orgasm he was having. He had never before handled anything so high-quality before, and he'd been doing this kind of work for a while. "And at least ten of these data boards are La Forge design, I'd swear my--"

"Don't swear anything," Jun said through the ear piece, in that particular muffled way that meant he was trying to be discreet and not let anyone know about the communicators. "Just get into the system."

"'Get into the system,'" Nino snorted, setting the front panel aside and pulling out his gloves and goggles. "You make it sound so soulless, J; I'm going to _make love_ to the system, and it will sweetly tell me everything I want to know while I gently caress its Yar 9 crystals that _aren't even on the market yet_."

"Nino, that's kind of hot," Aiba said, then Jun shushed him, and Nino grinned, unseen and hunched over in the muted light of the tube, all of the outpost's secrets just waiting for him to uncover them. Jeffries tubes were an underused resource, in Nino's opinion; before he'd hooked up with Aiba and Jun, he'd had jobs where the employer never let him leave the ship, doing everything through brute strength system assaults, never realizing that if you were in the tubes, you were already halfway into the code itself.

And Nino had never seen a well-defended Jeffries tube. After all, who wanted to protect their own system from being repaired?

He strapped on the goggles, giving himself a moment to adjust to the overlays. The goggles were an older model, but mostly it meant that Nino never had to deal with the delay from loading overly complex visualizations up. Basic was fine for Nino, as long as it worked.

Of course, for what they were going to make from this job, he could probably stand to upgrade a few things. He didn't particularly like picking up Federation jobs--it was hard to get over a distrust of the government when it so thoroughly neglected you in your youth--but they certainly had some of the deepest pockets, even if (or especially if) they had to go through several obscure channels to contact Kaze Trio in the first place.

He hooked up to the first crystal and started skimming through the maps, code flying across his screen like birds in loose but tidy formations. Nino caught handfuls at a time when they looked interesting or relevant, noted the details of their date and maker and path, and let them go again. The system opened up for him almost like it was showing off: look at my feathers, look at how beautiful my coding is.

The coding was certainly beautiful, but two minutes in and Nino could already tell something was off. He wasn't sure yet if it was in the system protecting itself--showing him what he wanted but with a boundary line in place--or if it was perhaps someone taking a more active interest in his actions.

Jun was the only one of them who carried a gun but Nino kept a couple of tricks up his sleeves; he started preparing for a hostile encounter while more data flitted across the lenses.

It didn't take long, after that. Even if Nino hadn't had the timer going in the corner of his vision, he could tell from the ache beginning in his back that it wasn't nearly as much time as they had alloted for Nino's work. Oh well, sometimes it happened like this. That's why they had back-up plans. "Aiba-chan, J," Nino said, only just loud enough for the receiver, "I've got incoming."

It had been quiet, on Jun's end, which was normal enough: Jun liked to keep his attention focused on the task at hand, and didn't want to risk distracting anyone else. Nino started packing up, waiting for Aiba to check in for both of them. He figured he could stash his equipment in the tube and maybe come back for it later--better than giving everything up right at the start--and listened as someone (several someones, he decided, from the amount of noise) started down the tube towards him. He could try to escape, but generally it was faster for everyone if he let himself get captured and waited it out. Even this place, advanced as it was, couldn't handle the combined force of Jun and Aiba's determination--or Nino's, for that matter.

"Nino," Aiba said into Nino's ear, sounding more serious than usual, "I've lost Matsujun."

The noise in the tube turned into people--Nino couldn't tell how many--hunched over to fit into the tight space but still holding their weapons out towards him, the red glow of the charged tips bright against their black all-over security shells. Nino clicked the panel back into place and hissed, "I'm about to get captured, Aiba, _find him_!"

"Stop right there!" With the security shell hiding the guard's face, it seemed more like the glowing tip of the weapon was making the orders than the guard carrying it. It was comical, really, but Nino did his best to hide his laughter in his elbow and scramble backwards at the same time, deliberately running into several more panels in hopes that it would delay anyone from finding where he hid his gear. He noted automatically that the gun was a model several generations behind Jun's personal favorite, and wondered what it said about the owners of this place that they didn't upgrade their defenses as often as they did their hardware.

"Nino!" Aiba cried out, but Nino disabled the receiver with a practiced twitch of his jaw. He could hear more people heading up the tubes behind him. 

He would put up just enough of a fight to make it worth their while. Kaze Trio had made it out of worse scrapes than this before, they'd make it out again--but Nino would at least keep the guards' attention as long as he could.


	2. Chapter 2

Jun pushed his way through a crowd of rainbow-bedecked dancers and carefully avoided putting his hands anywhere that might be construed as inappropriate (difficult to tell, with the fantastical costumes a lot of the patrons were wearing). He's not sure how he lost Aiba so quickly, but his transmitter had started acting up once he passed a little too close to the black hole simulator, and now he was just doing his best to find the other man. He would collect Aiba, then they'd find out Nino's status, and then they'd be out of there; this far out into space, Jun wasn't willing to take the risk of one of them getting pushed out the airlock without a way of communicating.

He liked this line of work, and the three of them were good at it, but he would rest easier at night if they could figure out a plan that didn't regularly involve endangering Aiba or Nino.

A part of him hated leaving a job undone like this--they patently had not found out what the client wanted to know, and a client was a client even if also clearly a Federation agent--but they already had the deposit, and the client had agreed to their contract, which did in fact include such clauses for carefully-worded contingencies that usually boiled down to "Aiba-chan saw an unhappy animal and had to do something _right then_ " or "Aiba-chan underestimated the laws of physics and will be spending a week in the hospital unit at Deep Space Seven and it is entirely necessary for Jun to sit next to him and be reassured that he's still alive" or, due to one memorable occasion, "Aiba-chan forgot that Nino is banned from piloting when he has been playing too many violent games on the holodeck."

Aiba managed to be both a benefit and a menace in one, and Jun felt a wave of affection flow over him even as his worry increased. He ducked out of the way of a hand clearly reaching out for his hair--the extensions had seemed like the right idea, for this kind of place, but were clearly a problem when surrounded by a bunch of drugged-up club kids who liked to touch things--and thought maybe he'd head back to the black hole simulator; it seemed like Aiba's kind of thing.

He bumped into someone--not for the first time--and turned to give them an apologetic look. He didn't think they'd really care or notice, what with all the flashing lights and dancers and loud music making it basically impossible _not_ to bump into people, but it was habit.

The person--the man--was shorter, with dark hair spiked up like he'd styled it in a strong wind. His half-lidded eyes were glassy, like so many of the other people there, but still seemed somehow observant behind that, and strangely mysterious. He was wearing a silver jacket, and it took Jun less than ten seconds to recognize him as Ohno Satoshi, one half of the Yama Pair, the very people Jun and Aiba and Nino had been hired to investigate.

Jun broke into a smile and played it off as appreciation as he took in the rest of Ohno, checking mostly to see if he could detect any hidden weapons but also genuinely enjoying the view. "Hello," Jun said, leaning closer so that he could be heard over the music, close enough that he could feel Ohno's breath on his neck. "Sorry about bumping into you!"

Jun pulled back a little to look at Ohno's face. Ohno was smiling, his lips small and shining glossily; his eyes crinkled up with humor as if Jun had made a joke. "It happens," Ohno said, not looking away from Jun.

"Though now I think maybe it was a good thing," Jun improvised, doing a double-take just for the effect. He wasn't sure how he could make this work for him, but he was very good at what he did, and it was a nice bonus that Ohno filled out his pants--a black so plain as to almost stand out on its own with all the surrounding colors, but so tight that Jun's mouth started to water from the shape of Ohno's thighs. This definitely wouldn't be a hardship.

Ohno hummed agreeably, and then the song changed, from bouncy and upbeat to something distinctly harder, rougher around the edges, the bass shaking under Jun's feet. Ohno's eyes did a slow slide from Jun's shoes up to his hair, then drifted back down. He leaned up and said, just barely audible over the music, "Do you dance?"

"With you? Yes," Jun answered, and then Ohno was holding Jun's hand and pulling him out further into the mass of people, away from the clumps of tables and bartender bots. The press of bodies shifting and moving around them was almost uncomfortably hot, but Jun liked that, sometimes--that feeling of being one in a crowd in a good way.

And then Ohno started dancing, moving his hips up against Jun's, and it was all Jun could do to follow along, catching Ohno's wrists when Ohno raised his hands, mirroring and moving with him, sliding his free hand along the revealed skin.

Ohno moved with the music like he was made for it, and he made Jun move, too. Jun didn't know how he could make this work for him, but he thought if only he could keep Ohno's attention then he could get some information, anything.

Ohno pulled his hands from Jun's loose grip, slid them down Jun's shoulders and held onto his waist for a few beats, then put one in his pocket. When he took it back out, his fingertips were slick and glittery, the changing lights making Ohno's skin look iridescent and alien. Ohno swiped it across his mouth in a move that couldn't have been practiced but made Jun's knees feel weak anyway, and then looked up at Jun through his lashes, slowing his damn hips and smiling. He mouthed something, Jun was pretty sure it was some kind of offer, and Jun didn't even think before nodding.

It's for the mission, he reminded himself, gripping onto Ohno's waist, and then Ohno laid his fingers on Jun's mouth, and there was a taste like nothing he'd ever had before, tingly and full-bodied in his mouth.

Then, between one bass beat and the next, Jun lost his mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Security brought the man into Sho's office and threw him on the ground. It wasn't really standard operating procedure, but this wasn't exactly a normal situation; Sho has had to deal with all kinds of creeps and thieves and undercover agents trying to get into their parties or find their supply or both, but he's never had someone just hack into the system through the Jeffries tubes before.

The interloper--he looked like he couldn't be over twenty from his slim build and his boyishly short haircut, but such appearances could be deceiving--had been blindfolded, arms tied behind his back, and the few things he'd had on his person when he was caught were presented to Sho without comment: a stylus; four game crystals, all new releases except for one; and a mini engineering kit that was obviously put together at home, not store-bought, the tools mismatched but high quality.

The case for the kit even said on the outside, NINO'S, DO NOT TOUCH, the embossing a recent addition and barely marked.

"This is it?" Sho asked.

The security lead nodded, their black shell helmet making stiff movements even stiffer. "Yes sir, but we suspect he's stashed something in the tube itself. No sign of explosives, sir."

"Thank you," Sho said. "Dismissed."

The lead tilted their head at the hacker--Nino, it must be--in question. Sho held up a finger, and they filed out the door, leaving one behind to stand guard.

On the floor, Nino hadn't bothered to get up, instead staying half-sprawled, half-curled up, just out of reach of Sho's station. His back moved easily as he breathed, though, so Sho doubted he was in any serious pain.

"There's a seat just behind you and to your left, if you'd like to get off the floor," Sho offered.

"What, not going to give me a hand?" Nino said, but his voice was calm, as Sho suspected it would be, and sarcastic, as he hadn't. He liked it immediately--not many people kept their cool so easily. "What if I like it down here?"

"I can get someone to help you up, if you need it," Sho said. "I'd prefer you to be sitting."

"So throwing me on the floor was just for fun?" Nino asked dryly, but he started up anyway, getting his knees under him and then up one leg at a time. He seemed a little stiff when he moved, but Sho would wager it was nothing a painkiller and a good night's sleep wouldn't cure. Security would have told him if there had been anything to report.

Nino found the chair with no problem.

Sho turned back to his station, flipping his screen between the party and various reports in quick, silent succession. He didn't have to be in there--he could always hire someone else to deal with this part of the business, but Sho liked the mundanity of it, and he liked knowing what was going on. He'd always taken care of the details, while Ohno had been the secret weapon, charming people in his way and smoothing over situations.

Nino shifted in the chair. It wasn't designed for comfort.

"So," Sho said finally, "you were looking for the shipping records."

"Maybe I was just looking for a quiet place to take a nap. That's quite a party you have going on," Nino retorted. "Where does a person go for some peace?"

"If you were here for the party," Sho said, "you'd know." He pulled up the list of files they'd found Nino in; they always had something watching the system.

A screen popped up--Ohno, smiling up at someone with long hair and broad shoulders.

"Ah," Sho said, "it looks like Ohno's found your friend."

Nino sniffed, and shifted on his seat. "I don't have any friends."

"You sure? Tall, strong features--distinctive eyebrows?"

"Sounds like the kind of person someone would remember being friends with." Nino was dressed comfortably, in a manner befitting someone who would be crawling around in unseen spaces and who only needed a toolkit and their wits, and the wide collar of his shirt slid down his shoulder, revealing bird-like collarbones. 

Sho pulled his eyes away quickly, and went back to skimming the report. Nino hadn't gotten into anything serious--nothing that would be detrimental to business, anyway. "I respect you for your gumption, if nothing else."

"I respect your enunciation," Nino said, fidgeting with his arms behind him.

Sho looked away again, then frowned at his screens. "What about the dozen Federation ships coming out of warp--are they your friends?" The suddenness of the anger made him tense up--he felt strangely betrayed. Before, he had thought maybe he would just hang onto Nino until the party calmed down a bit and they'd had a chance to find his gear and destroy it, maybe wipe his ship's files. (Nino had to have a ship somewhere, after all.) But now, now Sho could feel a real urge for retribution rising.

"I told you before," Nino said, and Sho clenched his hands into fists, waiting, "I don't have any friends."

Sho stood up, grabbed Nino's chair and dragged him over to the screen. He pulled off the blindfold and held Nino's face in place. "Are you sure they don't look familiar? Maybe less like friends and more like people you've pissed off, maybe?"

Nino stared at the screen, pliant in Sho's arms, and swallowed. "They're the ones that hired us," he said, suddenly fast and serious, "just to find out about the drugs you guys are moving. I think they put a tracer on my gear." He moved his eyes to Sho's, and Sho let go of his face, his fingers slipping over the curve of Nino's jaw. "I don't think they're here because they want to crash your party."

"They aren't going to care if they happen to catch you in this raid, either, will they?" Sho asked, already knowing the answer. He leaned around Nino's shoulders, and flipped on the alarm. It was the designed to cut through everything else--the music, the lights, everything would shut down in favor of the alarms. He nodded over to the security, and they nodded back and headed out.

Nino was still looking at him when Sho turned back, and he looked away only when Sho reached down to undo his wrists. Sho couldn't help noticing how smooth Nino's skin was, and how quickly it must bruise for the cuffs to have already left a mark.

He shook himself out of the thought and let Nino have his wrists back. "Tell me what you know and maybe I won't turn you in to them after this is over."


	4. Chapter 4

The alarms were very effective. It seemed like everyone but Aiba knew what to do--then again, Aiba figured he would probably make sure his drugged party guests knew the escape route too. The invited ones, anyway. Aiba hadn't personally hosted very many drugged party guests, because he'd been too busy with Kaze Trio.

Aiba was panicking, just a tiny bit. It had been over an hour since he last saw Jun, and only slightly less than that since he heard from Nino, before Nino was captured. The rush of people around him was like a flood and he was caught in the nets of their costumes or hair, dragged along as they headed for pods or private racers or clunky old shuttles. But he couldn't leave, not without Jun and Nino.

He struggled against the flow. Somehow in his search for Jun he'd ended up out on an upper floor of the station, and he was more than a little lost. He tried his earpiece again, just in case. "Nino!" he shouted. The place was almost louder with the alarms than it had been with the music. "Jun! _Jun!_ "

"Aiba!"

"Jun?" Aiba turned, bracing himself against the wall, and there Jun was! "Jun!"

He had to throw a few elbows, but he made it, he made it to Jun and it was all he could do to not just bear hug him right there. "Jun, you don't look so good! And you have a friend!"

A small, tan man with sleepy eyes was hanging onto Jun's belt, tucked behind him in the nook they'd found. "Hello," he said, apparently unbothered by the fuss; he looked familiar, but Aiba couldn't deal with introductions because seriously, Jun looked terrible, his hair clumped up messily on one side, his eyes wet and pupils dilated, his face damp with sweat. He almost looked sick, except he kept stroking his fingers on the man's hand on his waist in a way that Aiba was pretty sure meant that Jun had been about to get some before the alarms went off.

Also, Jun wasn't wearing a shirt. Jun almost never wore shirts if he thought he didn't have to, but he usually wore them for the job.

Aiba's eyes went wide. "Junpon, are you _high_?"

"We don't have time," Jun gritted out. His chest was heaving like he'd just run a race. "Ohno says the alarms mean that the Federation's here."

"The Federation? But didn't they--well, anyway, I guess it's the wrong time to worry about the details," Aiba said in a rush. The crowd had thinned and then disappeared around them as they'd talked, and the hallway seemed forebodingly empty, just the three of them and the repetitive screech of the alarm. Without all the bodies to absorb the noise, it was practically a weapon.

"We have to get to the ship," Jun said. Ohno's fingertips slid along the skin just above his pants, and Jun seemed to calm a little bit.

Not for the first time, and not even for the first time when it would be totally inconvenient to find out, Aiba wondered what this drug actually _did_. Jun and Nino have always been clear about their opinions of Aiba and chemical modifications and had managed to convince Aiba at every opportunity that alcohol was more than enough for him. "What about Nino?" he asked, because with Jun there, that left only one member of the team to find. "He said he was getting captured, when I talked to him last."

Jun looked around them, distracted, and then took the lead walking them down the hallway, close to the wall. He pushed Aiba back with his arm until Aiba was last in their little line. Aiba instinctively gripped onto Ohno's shoulder, unwilling to risk separation again.

"He should be with Sakurai, then," Jun said finally, his voice tight with concentration. "They'll take one of Yama Pair's ships. We'll meet up later."

"What, but--Oh! You're _that_ Ohno!" Aiba squeezed Ohno's shoulder in recognition, and Ohno looked back at him and smiled as if nothing was wrong.

They made it to a lift and Jun was clearly struggling to make a decision. Ohno's hand drifted up his back again, and then Jun called the lift to them. Aiba felt like he had even less of an idea of what was going on--Jun tended towards standoffishness even with people he wanted to have sex with. It had taken years of Nino's clingy personality before Jun would relax even with just the three of them. Aiba knew of recreational drugs that made you _want_ to touch people, but this didn't seem like that.

The alarms cut off suddenly while they were in the lift. The only sound left was the subtle whoosh of the station itself, and Aiba's blood rushing in his ears. He looked up from his hand on Ohno's shoulder, and Jun was looking back at him, just as determined as he was clearly forcing himself to be steady.

He had his gun in his hand, the little model that Aiba and Nino bought him for his birthday, small but powerful and easily hidden. Aiba felt something inside of him ease up a bit. He smiled at Jun, then down at Ohno, too; they had each other, so it couldn't be all that bad. "We'll make it," he said.

The lift doors opened. Aiba remembered this hall, now. They were only about a hundred feet from the hangar bay where they'd stashed their ship. Jun would make sure they'd get there, and Aiba would make sure they'd get out, all three of them, and then they'd find Nino. It would all work out, Aiba knew it would.


	5. Chapter 5

Ohno didn't have a problem telling Aiba the coordinates for the rendezvous point, especially after Aiba had offered him the use of their ship's well-equipped shower. Plus, Aiba felt like candy to him, sweet and exciting and popping against the roof of his mouth. Aiba talked a lot while he flew his and Jun's (and Nino's, whom Ohno would like, Ohno gathered) little ship towards the location, and his words felt like candy, too.

Not a lot of people matched up, for Ohno, and the drug only made it more apparent. That's why Ohno liked Sho so much: he was guarded and careful with his words, but his feelings were soft and squishy, and when Ohno'd been having some trouble, Sho had taken care of it for him. That was the kind of guy Sho was. Stand-up, except for the life of crime.

It just didn't feel like crime, to Ohno. He just wanted to do his thing, and to have Sho there, too. And maybe Aiba and Jun.

As if summoned by Ohno thinking about him, right then Jun came in from the head where he'd been busy being ill. Ohno felt bad--he'd forgotten to warn him that the come-down could be messy, especially when inertial dampeners were involved. Still, Jun felt warm and dark, and now he was covered up by a sweater that looked incredibly comfortable, his long hair gathered up in a loose bun. Ohno didn't move and hoped Jun would come to him.

"Are we almost there?" Jun asked, and Ohno closed his eyes, let the sounds wash over him. Jun matched up, too, like Aiba; he'd stood out in a crowd of glitter and gold. Even when Ohno was enjoying a trip just as strong as anyone's, Jun had been silken, irresistable to the touch.

"Yup! They'll be in range in about three minutes, is my guess," Aiba answered.

Jun came over to Ohno. "You know, if you really want me to sit next to you, you could choose a chair that seats more than one." He leaned over Ohno, and pushed his fingers through Ohno's hair, now de-spiked, and his fingertips felt warm and silken. Ohno smiled up at him, then obligingly sat up just enough for Jun to slide under him. It was a close fit, but Ohno liked it. He hoped that Sho would let him keep Jun--and Aiba, too.

"Ah, we're in range! This is the Toma calling over to the Super Soul, do you copy!"

Ohno could just barely see the communicator screen just off of Aiba's main view light up with what must have been Nino's face, since it wasn't Sho's. He craned his neck to get a better view, but quickly gave up when Jun kept petting him. Eyes closed, Ohno listened to Nino's sharp voice cut through Aiba's shouts, a clear streak of orange across the sleepy electronic hums and soft beeps of the Toma. 

Nino seemed relieved, to Ohno, while he was berating Aiba. "We copy, we copy! You don't have to be so loud, I keep telling you!"

Aiba was unfazed by the criticism. "Nino! You're alive! I--right, anyway! I have Junpon and Ohchan, what about you?"

The rough colors of their voices intermingling felt so nice, as did the massage. Ohno hummed a little, in the back of his throat, felt himself get caught up in it, and curled up even closer against Jun and his soft, soft sweater.

"Obviously I'm in the Yama Pair ship, but I'm not sure if we'll be able to get any work for a while, at least not in our usual quarters," Nino answered. "Sho-chan says that we can hide out in their home base for a bit and we might as well take both ships to get there. I'll send you the location now."

"Sho-chan, eh? Eh, eh?" Aiba teased.

"Please stop trying to wink, Aiba-chan; you're going to break your face someday."

"Ni _no_ ," Aiba whined, but Ohno could feel the way the ship was reacting to Aiba's command, its harmonics bending as they changed course.

"Fine! I'll tell you everything later--for a price!"

Sho's voice cut through, and Ohno basked in its familiar tone of put-upon fondness. "Are you two always like this?"

The conversation continued, but Ohno stopped paying attention, content knowing that he could keep all of them for a while longer.

"So what are you guys going to do now, without the drug?" Jun asked him. His voice was gentle and soft to match his touch.

"Hm," Ohno said. He sat up a little, mostly on top of Jun's lap now, and tangled his hands in Jun's hair. He looked at Jun for a moment, let his eyes travel around the small marks around his mouth and on his brow, the shadow under his lip, all the depths and surfaces of him; then he pressed his mouth to Jun's, waited for Jun's mouth to soften, to open up for him.

Ohno's lipgloss had come off in the shower, but Ohno didn't need it for this. He licked into Jun's mouth, and when Jun's whole body relaxed against him, he smiled and pulled back. "I don't need anything," he said, because he thought simple was the best way for his words and his feelings to match. "I just need Sho around. And I like you, too, and Aiba-chan and Nino. So. I'd like for that to go on."

Jun looked at him like he was trying to decipher something hidden inside of Ohno, but Ohno thought he'd been pretty clear. "Sho-chan will explain," Ohno said finally, and leaned back in.

"Hey!" Aiba said. "Go do that somewhere else--it's really distracting!"

"I don't know what they're doing," Nino said, "but I bet they have the right idea."

Judging from how Jun was responding, Ohno thought Jun agreed with Nino. He kissed Jun again, and imagined how all of their colors would look right next to each other. He wouldn't have to wait long to find out.


End file.
